Randy Travis pleads not guilty to assault; jury trial awaits

Randy Travis said he didn't do it — the country star on Friday pleaded not guilty to a simple assault charge stemming from an August dust-up in a church parking lot.

Travis, appearing in a Plano, Texas, courtroom, requested a jury trial in the matter. He was cited in late August after he allegedly got involved in an argument between his girlfriend and her estranged husband. A court date's been set for March 11.

Travis' attorney, Larry Friedman, tells the story a little differently than it appeared in media reports at the time. The singer, Friedman told the Dallas Morning News, intervened as a "good Samaritan" when two men were harassing the woman and her 17-year-old daughter. By the time police arrived, he said, one of the men had attacked Travis, who was defending himself.

The parking-lot incident followed a February arrest on suspicion of public intoxication and an arrest in early August that left Travis charged with driving under the influence and retaliation or obstruction, for allegedly threatening an officer during the process.

"Randy is no longer drinking any alcohol," Friedman told the Morning News. "He’s committed to a new fitness regimen that includes a strict three-hour workout every day and a new high-protein diet."